Monday, April 29, 2013

Botswana diamonds book launched

This is the second book he has written
and published; his first book, Crocodile Pools Botswana - History and
Biodiversity, was published in 2011 and tells the story of a little
known area just 20 minutes drive south from Gaborone and which is
steeped in natural and military history and has a great diversity of
fauna and flora.

In his latest offering the 11-chapter book, the first of its kind, is
dedicated to the story behind Botswana's diamond success, it follows
the diamond from "Mine to Finger", or "Rough to Store", in what is known
in the diamond business as the "Diamond Pipeline".
It addresses revenues derived from diamond sales that have
spearheaded Botswana's economic growth and development since
independence, and how Botswana has transformed from being one of the
poorest and least developed countries in the world to a middle-income
economy. The book proved popular as most guests bought copies upon
arrival.
In his speech, Brook said Botswana has now developed a full and
continually expanding diamond pipeline, encompassing the stages of
diamond prospecting and evaluation, mining, processing and recovery,
sorting and valuation, sales and marketing, cutting and polishing and
finally diamond jewellery manufacturing and retail. "The last few years
have seen tremendous growth in the beneficiation of Botswana's diamond
industry, involving the expanded development of the downstream stages of
the pipeline, thus benefiting Botswana and Batswana substantially," he
said.
Born in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom (UK) Brook
first arrived in Botswana in 1980 to work as a bush diamond prospector
for De Beers Prospecting Botswana. He completed a Masters Hydrogeology
Degree at Birmingham University.
He would later establish a new groundwater division in the Civil
Engineering Department of the Anglo American Corporation where he
provided technical hydro geological support to Anglo American, Debswana
and De Beers mining operations.
He also worked in the Middle East. The author has also worked as a
hydro geologist in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In 2007, he and
his family left Dubai for his current position as Group Hydro geologist
with the Debswana Diamond Company, Botswana.